Feeding apparatus



March 17, 1942. E. v. FRANCIS FEEDING APPARATUS Filed March 10, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 mm TN MM VF... .mV F- m A E Mal-ch17, 1942.

E. v'. FRANCIS. rasbmc APPARATUS Filed March 10. 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 n pr 'f/Yl ENTOR I EARLE VFRANCIS,

. I 6a. 774. my?! I Patented Mar. 17, 1942 FEEDING APPARATUS Earle V. Francis, Columbus, Ohio, assignor to The 'Traylor Vibrator Company, a corporation of Colorado I Application March 10, 1988, Serial No. 195,092

3 Claims.

v such weight rate as may be predetermined.

A further object of the invention is to provide improved and efiicient mechanism for transferring from storage to conveyor apparatus pulverulent material at a reduced head-to prevent undue fiow of such material during the operation of the conveyor apparatus.

Another object of the invention is the provi sion of means for delivering pulverulent material by segregation and in batches from storage to a feeder at a reduced head to prevent undue flow when it reaches the feeder.

A further object of the invention is the provision of mechanism for delivering granular material to a feeder at a substantially constant head either continuously or intermittently as controlled by the amount of material resting on the feeder.

Another object of the invention is the provision of improved delivery mechanism to a vibratory electric feeder having a feeder-pan, adapted to maintain constant the amount of material resting'on the feeder-pan.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novel features and combinations being set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of the apparatus comprising my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevational view of the apparatus of Fig; 1 of the drawings, except that the vibratory motor structure of the feeder is not shown in section;

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevational view of a modified form of control switch for the delivery mechanism;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 3 looking i the direction of the mechanism with the reduction gearing thereof shown in section;

Fig. 9 is a sectional elevational view through terial under 200 mesh, said material would tend to flow much after the fashion of a liquid, as a consequence of which even an electro-magnetic vibratory feeder, which is generally susceptible to very accurate control, cannot maintain the material under the desired control at all times.

The apparatus comprising my invention provides for a substantially constant headof material on the vibratory feeder or, in other words, provides for a substantially constant amount of material in the hopper of the vibratory feeder which insures a uniform pressure or head upon the material in the bottom of the feeder hopper regardless of the amount of material in'the primary or storage hopper, thus insuring against any free or uncontrolled flow thereof and thereby insuring accurate control of the material by the feeder.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, I provide an electro-magnetic vibratory feeder 8| which may follow substantiallythe structure of the. vibratory feeder disclosed in the application of James A. Flint, Serial No.

73,318 filed April 8, 1936, now Patent No. 2,251,856, dated Aug. 5, 1941, except for the fact that said feeder will not have any grizzly or grid as disclosed in said patent, or it may follow the structure disclosed in the patent to James A. Flint, No'. 2,094,787 dated October 5, 1937.

Briefly described, said electro-magnetic feeder 8| comprises a trough shaped deck 82. The deck 82 is rigidly attached to and supported by an armature shaft 83 which is rigidly attached to the centers of a plurality of transversely extending spring bars 84, the ends of which are rigidly clamped in'a casting 85 forming the main frame of the feeder 8|. The spring bars 84 lie in a plane which forms an acute angle with the plane of the deck 82 so that when the armature shaft 83 and the deck 82 are vibrated a conveying action toward the right as viewed, in Fig. 2, will be imparted to any material carried by said deck 82 due to the composite action of the vertical and horizontal components of movement thereof.

'Adjacent its rear end the armature shaft 83 carries an armature preferably built up of laminated steel which is acted upon by a field structure 81 including a laminated iron 'core, which field structure is excited from alternating or mixed current to cause vibration of the armature 86. .It may be further stated that the field structure 81 is adjustably mounted in a pair the upper portion of the deliverymechanism I activated carbon, or any similar pulverulent maof yokes 88 which are rigidly attached to the main frame casting 85 The entire feeder 8| is supported upon a stand 88 attached to a frame 20 formed by a pair of longitudinally extending channel-members 2|, 2| .to which are rigidly attached a plurality of transversely extending angle members 28.

ing over substantially the entire bottom of the deck 82 any granular material received by said deck 82. The rate of feed of this type of feederfound that if a large storage hopper is provided.

which feeds directly into the deck or pan 82 of the vibratory feeder 8|, it is impossible to control satisfactorily the rate of flow of'these materials because when the storage hopper or 'bin is full of material there is a very large head,

or high pressure per square inch, on the material which causes it to flow like a liquid even though the feeder 8| is completely shut off. I

therefore provide means which is particularly useful with material of this type but which may be omitted where large grained material or material which does-not tend to flow, is employed.

To provide a substantially constant head of material on the deck 82 or, in other words, to

segregate the material in the storage hopper from the material which is in direct communication with the deck 82 and to feed from the former to the latter in batches to maintain substantially constant the head or amount of material supported directly from the deck 82 which is below a value at which said material will flow freely, I provide a. feeder accumulator in the form of a hopper .90 of relatively low capacity and relatively low height which is supported from the main frame 20 by upstanding angle members 9|. The hopper 90 has a bottom opening 92 which opens directly into the trough of the deck 82 and which opening 92 is controlled by an adjustable gate 93. The sidewalls adjacent the bottom of the hopper 90 project into the troughlike deck 82 so that the 'material in the hopper ing 96 forms a material transfer chamber 98, communication to which is provided from the hop er-like continuation 91 byway of a restricted opening 99 (Fig. 6) in the integral web I00 of said casting 96 which forms the bottom of the hopper-like continuation 9'| and the top of the material transfer chamber 98. The bottom of the material transfer chamber 98 is formed by a removable disc IOI provided with a restricted opening I02 which is diametrically opposed to the opening 99, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7.

Within the material transfer chamber 98 is a segregator or combined separator and feeder I03 which is adapted to transfer material from the hopper 94 to the hopper 90 when rotated,

- but to prevent a direct flow of material from said hopper94. Said segregator I08 is formed by a hub I04 having integral radial wings I05 (there being six in the segregator illustrated) to which are removably attached a plurality of a,

radial blades I06. It will be noted by reference to Fig. 6 of the drawings-that the openings 99 and I02 are of such angular relation and radial extension that it is impossible for material to flow from one to the other without being intercepted by one of the blades I06. quence, it is impossible for material to flow dirctly from the hopper 94 and out through the opening I02 unless thesegregator I03 is caused to rotate.

The segregator I03 is mounted upon an upstanding drive shaft I0l which carries at its top, scraper means I08 adapted to cut or scrape material from the interior walls of the member 91 which carries on its-bottom a plurality of 90, in effect, rests directly upon the bottom of I bolted or otherwise attached to the bottom of. a

large storage bin or compartment in which the material to be fed by the constant capacity feeder of my invention is stored.

Interposed betweenthe storage hopper 94 and the feeder hopper 90' is a delivery mechanism 95 which is so constructed as to maintain the segregation of material 'within the storage hopper 94 and the material within the feeder hopper 90 so that regardless of the amount of 'material in the feeder hopper 90 or the bin to which it is connected, the pressure exerted by the material in the feeder hopper 90 and any material in direct contact therewith will be definitely limited and will be maintained substantially constant to the end that the feed rate of the feeder 8| will be substantially the same whenever the ampli-' tude of vibration thereof is constant.

The structure of the delivery mechamsm 95 is best seen by reference to Figs. 2 and 6 to 9,

angularly disposed blades I09 adapted to force material which may accumulate on the web I00, axiaally outwardly until it falls through'the opening 9.

The drive shaft I0! is driven from an electric motor I I0 through reduction gearing mechanism III (Figs. 7, 8) contained within a housing II2 all of which is supported by the casting 96. It will thus be evident that whenever the motor H0 is operated the material will be positively transferred from the opening 99 to the opening I02, and unless the segregator I03 is thus rotated material cannot flow from said opening 99 to said opening I02. It will thus be seen that the segregator I03 acts not only as a feeder but also as a multiple radial gate valve between the hopper 94 and the discharge opening I02.

. a chute N3 the bottom of which extends below invention, is removed so that there may be in serted into the chute II3 an electric switch operating mechanism comprising a pivoted plate 5' (see Fig. 2) which carries a tube type mercury switch II6 for-opening and closing the circuit of the motor H0, as diametrically illustrated in Fig. 5 of the drawings. I

T:.e operation of the delivery mechanism may be briefly described as follows; Since the chute H3 extends into the hopper 90, both said hopper 97 and said chute II3 may be substantially com- :leely filled with material without said material running over from said hopper 90. Whenever the chute H3 is not filled with material the pivoted plate II5 will be in its upright position,

As a conseas illustrated in Fig. 2, and the switch I It will be closed to cause operation of the delivery mechanism 95 to deliver material from the hopper 94 to the hopper 95. As material tends to build up in the chute H3 the pivoted plate H is swung about its pivot to .open the contacts of switch I I6 to shut off the motor H0. As a consequence, the hopper 90 will be maintained substantially full of material at all times and when it is full the delivery mechanism 95 will be shut down.

The control mechanism for the motor HI! may lie omitted if desired and the motor H0 run continuously, but the inclusion of such control mechanism is preferred for the sake of economy in the consumption of electric current. For example, if the motor H0 runs continuously, it will deliver material from the hopper 94 to the hopper 96 until said hopper 90 and the chute H3 are completely filled with material. When this condition is realized, the material received between the blades I06 of the segregator I03 will not fall through the opening I02 but will conaforesaid constant head on the deck 82.

tinue to rotate with said blades I06. As a consequence, the segregator I03 will simply be full of material which will continue to rotate with said blades I06. However, since this rotation does no useful work I prefer to control the motor III] in response to the condition of the material in the hopper 90, as above described. It is to be noted, however, that under either condition of operation the material in the hopper 94 is segregated from the material in the hopper W and the head on the deck 82 is maintained substantially constant.

In Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings, I have illustrated a modified form of control for the'mercury switch H6, which may be substituted for that illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings. This modified control comprises a frame III adapted to replace the cover plate H4 and to extend into the chute H3. Said frame III is in the form of an enclosing housing provided with acircuiar opening closed by a flexible diaphragm H8. To the center of the diaphragm H8 is attached an operating slide rod I I9 carrying a disc I20 which bears against a pivoted bell crank lever I2I which is adapted to operate a pivoted lever I22 upon which is supported the mercury switch H6. It will be evident, when this form of operating mechanism is employed, that as the material builds-up and fills the chute H3, the diaphragm H8 will yield and move the operating slide rod H9 to the left, as viewed in Fig. 3, thereby to rock the switch I I6 through the levers I2I and I22. The weight of the lever I22 and the switch H6 are sufllcient to return the diaphragm to the position illustrated in Fig. 3 in the absence of material filling the chute H3.

In the operation of the apparatus comprising my invention, granular material, which is intended to embrace substantially any material other than a fluid, to be fed at a controlled rate will be stored in alarge hopper or storage bin with the bottom of which is associatedthe hopper 94. This granular material is fed from the hopper 94 by the delivery mechanism 95 into the material accumulator or feeder hopper 90 at such a. rate as to maintain the material in said feeder hopper 90 substantially constant, or, in other words, to. maintain said hopper 90 substantially ful of material at all times thereby providing a substantially constant head of granular material on the deck 82 of the electro-magnetic vibratory feeder 8|.

It may be stated that, if desired, the hopper 93 may be eliminated entirely and the chute H3 extended downwardly below the top of the deck 82 and provided with a gate 93 or not, as desired.

It may also bepointed out that the control mechanisms for the motor III] of the delivery mechanism 95, as illustrated in Fig. 2, or as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, are preferably employed to prevent operation of said delivery mechanism when the hopper 90 is full of material but said control may be omitted if desired, as above set forth.

Itis, of course, evident that this delivery mechanism is effective to isolate the granular material in the hopper 9 3 and the granular material in the chute H3 and hopper 90 to maintain the This provides for a very accurate control of the rate of feed of the material on the deck 82 as determined substantially entirely by the amplitude of vibration of said electro-magnetic feeder 8|.

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in the details and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims hereto appended, and I therefore wish not to be restricted to the precise construction herein disclosed.

Having thus described and shown an embodiment of my invention, what I desire to secure by which tends to flow freely under a predetermined head, comprising the combination with a vibratory electro-magnetic feeder, of-a storage hopper, and mechanism for delivering material to said feeder from said hopper while maintaining a substantially constant head on said feeder be- 3. In feeding apparatus, the combination with.

a storage hopper for granular material which tends to run freely under a predetermined head, of an electro-magnetic vibratory feeder, a feeder hopper, and mechanism constructed andarranged to maintain a substantially constant amount of material in said feeder hopper which is separated from the material in said storage hopper at all times and which provides a head on said feeder below that at which said material flows freely, comprising'means for segregating and removing material from said storage hopper and delivering it to said feederhopper.

. EARLE V. FRANCIS. 

